Quotes of the day

posted at 10:44 pm on March 26, 2012 by Allahpundit

“Without exaggeration, the final ruling has the potential to be the most important declaration on how the Constitution divides up power between national and state governments since the New Deal days some three quarters of a century ago. Without exaggeration, it could be the most important pronouncement on the federal ‘safety net’ since the Social Security Act was upheld by the Court in 1937. Without exaggeration, a decision to strike down all or part of the new health law could be the most severe rebuff of Congress’s power over the national economy since the Sick Chicken Case in 1935. And, without exaggeration, a nullification of the Act in whole or in part could be the most devastating blow to presidential power and prestige since the Steel Seizure Case in 1952.

“The law at issue is not directly about civil rights, but for the nation’s working poor, the coming ruling on the law’s validity could be as important to them as a 1938 decision was for racial minorities, essentially starting the modern civil rights revolution. And for individuals who want to be left alone by their government, the final decision may be a reminder of a 1905 decision that first spelled out a theory of individual liberty that, in time, would contribute importantly decades afterward to that same civil rights revolution…

“Today’s Supreme Court oral argument transcript suggests that many of the justices, including at least three of the liberals, are skeptical of claims that the individual mandate is a tax. This is important not only for today’s argument about the applicability of the Anti-Injunction Act (which probably does not apply if the mandate penalty is not a tax), but to tomorrow’s argument about the constitutionality of the mandate. The federal government has argued that the mandate is constitutional because it is an exercise of Congress’ power under the Tax Clause. Lower courts have almost uniformly rejected this constitutional tax argument, and today’s questioning suggests that the Supreme Court is unlikely to accept it either.

“Justice Stephen Breyer suggested that the mandate is not a tax because ‘Congress has nowhere used the word ”tax.” Justice Ginsburg noted that the mandate may not be a tax because it isn’t a ‘revenue-raising measure,’ and because the monetary penalty is separable from the mandate itself. Justice Sotomayor also expressed doubts about whether the mandate is a tax, as did several for the conservative justices. As far as I can tell, none of the justices seemed to support the argument that the mandate is a tax.

“Thus, today’s events do not bode well for the federal government’s constitutional tax argument.”

***

“‘The idea that the mandate is something separate from whether you want to call it a penalty or tax just doesn’t seem to make much sense,’ Roberts said, over strong objections from attorney Gregory Katsas. ‘It’s a command. A mandate is a command. If there is nothing behind the command, it’s sort of, well what happens if you don’t file the mandate? And the answer is nothing. It seems very artificial to separate the punishment from the crime. … Why would you have a requirement that is completely toothless? You know, buy insurance or else. Or else what? Or else nothing.’

“That wasn’t what the challengers wanted to hear. A key feature of their argument is that the individual mandate is distinct from the fine the government will assess on people who fail to purchase insurance. They say the case isn’t about Congress’ power to tax or penalize people but rather about its power to force people to take actions they may not want to take. Roberts dismissed this distinction.

“The question now is how far-reaching the implications of that dismissal are. It’s possible that Roberts was linking the mandate and its enforcement mechanism for the purpose of answering a much narrower question — that it wasn’t a tip-of-the-hand at all. But if the two measures are linked, then the court could easily conclude they both stem from the same power, and give them the green light.”

***

“The survey asked former Supreme Court clerks and lawyers who have argued cases before the Court to assess the probability, on a scale from zero to 100 percent, that the Justices would strike down the law’s mandates on individuals to purchase health insurance or its provisions expanding eligibility for Medicaid to millions of more uninsured adults.

“[A]ll three groups of former clerks-even those who had worked for the Court’s conservative block-said the odds that the Justices would uphold the mandate was well above 50 percent. Lawyers who have argued before the Court said there was a 36 percent probability the Justices would strike down the mandate, about the same as the clerks overall.

“The Supreme Court ruling on health care just may not be such a big deal in campaign 2012 after all.

“Most Americans have already formed an opinion of the Obama health care law, and a Supreme Court ruling isn’t going to change that…

“Since August 2009, ABC/Washington Post polling has asked Americans whether they support or oppose changes to the health care system that have been enacted by Congress and the Obama administration. At no point has the ‘support’ hit 50 percent. Yet, opposition has also hovered in the same narrow range – somewhere between 48 percent to 52 percent…

“Think of the advantage that this situation gives Romney: Even if the health care law is ruled constitutional, legitimate political questions remain because it is not fully operative for two more years. Only ‘Romneycare’ is a public-private-sector plan in full operation, praised by his opponents — like Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a top Obama ally. By embracing a role for government in addressing health care, Romney has neutralized traditional winning Democratic arguments.

“The Obama campaign has one overriding aim — paint any GOP nominee as out of touch with the problems facing average Americans. ‘Romneycare’ presents a problem for this narrative. If the former head of Bain Capital is allegedly the ‘same ole’ GOP rich guy worshipping at the altar of social Darwinism, how does the ‘compassionate party’ explain away using ‘Romneycare’ as a model?

“The conservative elite predicted the health care issue would sink Romney. But GOP primary voters have not rebelled. Indeed, they are clearing the path for Romney’s eventual nomination. We see a message here. Republican voters understand ‘Romneycare’ has flaws and isn’t ideologically doctrinaire. But the elite don’t face the same problems as the many GOP voters who see Romney as a pragmatic governor who tried to solve a pressing problem facing his state.”

My wife works for our county hospital (CA) determining if kids are eligible for certain medical procedures and whose jurisdiction they come under. The “poor” are smothering us. She tells me stories and I tell her “stop you’re killing me, I’ve already had my fill from reading HA”.

arnold ziffel on March 27, 2012 at 1:45 AM

When I was at St. Anne’s hospital in Chicago (they have long since closed) we would have (uninsured) women in labor, with no prenatal care, who would wait until the very last minute, to show up at the ER, hoping that there wouldn’t be time for us to send them over to CRook County hospital. As you might imagine, it made for some interesting situations. Most of the time the outcomes were okay…..

As much as I liked the muscle cars and still do, the cars they have now are really marvels of technology.
I had a 1968 Camaro RS 327. Nice car. Got out of the Army 74 and it didn’t have AC and I was thinking of selling it. An old fart hit me and totaled it and made the decision for me. They were just starting to keep their collector value and I got boned since I only had minimal required insurance.

…and how then do we defend ourselves peacefully from our own government when we cannot count on the supreme court to do the right thing? First this, then we won’t be able to speak freely, or deny king farouk obama his life time presidency. I can imagine the painfully righteous and scared crapless smile on all those tinfoil hat wearing paranoids we’ve made fun of. They’ll have been right and we’ll all be screwed.

I don’t think it’s paranoid to imagine where this is going to go if barry wins this fight and the one in November. It’s going to get really, really ugly.

I am so po’d that this entire Ocare was shoved up our butts and the dems just said “take it”. It was unpopular from the very beginning and they used all sorts of machinations to get it through. Just awful. The media then runs stories about how SCOTUS shouldn’t be pressured. Where do we get relief?

I hope yours was more mechanically sound than mine and a friends 1975 models.

arnold ziffel on March 27, 2012 at 2:23 AM

It was perfect! Didn’t stop me from taking apart and putting it back together though. I was curious. I did love that little car. Good times! Wild Times! When I moved up to NYC I took it with me. Every night at 1:00 I had to go out and change sides of the street. That was the rule. It was easy to fit in small places. Funny now that I think back on it. : )

You were able to dump the pt. in time on the other hospital?
If I ran the show I’d have transport waiting right outside the hall door.

arnold ziffel on March 27, 2012 at 2:22 AM

Sometimes we could, but most times not. It was quite a ways to County from there. I did some of my nurse’s training at County. I had some very interesting experiences there, especially neonatal intensive care.

I had to find a picture of that one, to make sure I knew what is was. Nice car! The hubby is driving a ’97 Sebring convertible. She’s got over a hundred thousand miles on her, and she’s on her way out. :(

i remember hannity going on and on about how big 2012 was going to be. he hinted at something big. nothing panned out. all he does is scream. rush is a bit better. but still. they have no effect. they just talk. big deal. the left still keeps taking us over.

“Most Americans have already formed an opinion of the Obama health care law, and a Supreme Court ruling isn’t going to change that…

No kidding, Dick Tracy. But that’s not why we look to the Supreme Court – to. Hangs people’s opinions -it’s to prevent one of the other branches of government from overreaching its authority.

“For many Americans, in the Mainstream Media, the real frustration about the health care law is that the debate over it consumed far too much time and energy in Washington, time and energy that they believe should have been spent trying to fix the economy.”

I think the quote of the day came from Alito who pointed out that the the government spent yesterday arguing that Obamacare was a tax (in order to invoke a three year delay in legal consideration). Today when the focus shifts to the individual mandate, the government will argue that this is not a tax (in order to justify this unprecedented use of the commerce clause).

Now that Lapland surgery for obesity has been shown to help curb diabetes, my question is just how many lap bands will WE be forced to pay for, should this pass the SCOTUS muster?
To keep down ‘health costs’ of diabetes ???? Wait, what ?
Can you just imagine ??

I got a DNC/Elect Obama solicitation in the mail on Friday, with my real name on it. I’ve never given anything to the DNC, nor visited/registered at any Obama websites.

I also move about every 6 months and receive my bills etc via e-mail.

I wrote a nasty note on the form (which had my name on it) put it in the prepaid envelope and then chickened out mailing because I was afraid of losing my citizenship, the IRS, etc.

How sick is that?

JPeterman on March 27, 2012 at 12:04 AM

I get those, too. And I have never given anything to the DNC, or registered at any Obama websites.

But because I’m afraid of the government, what I do is just crumple the pic of Obama and return it in the envelope.

When AARP sends me requests to sign up, I just tear off the bottom of the letter that has no identifying info, and write on it how the AARP can forget it, since they sold us out to Obamacare.

However, in that case, I’m not removing the identifying info because I’m afraid of the them. I do it so they won’t stop sending me the solicitations and I can keep giving them a piece of my mind and also costing them postage.